418 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



their attention upon an object in 

 which tliey soon take an interest, 

 but from which no injury can pro- 

 ceed towards tliemselves, nor can 

 any tlu-ough its means be by them 

 inflicted upon their masters. Their 

 ideas are removed from any 

 thought of the customs of their 

 own country, and are guided into 

 a channel of a totally different na- 

 ture, and completely unconnected 

 with what is practised there. The 

 election of a king of Congo (which 

 I have mentioned in chapter xiii.) 

 by the individuals who come from 

 that part of Africa, seems indeed 

 as if it would give them a bias to- 

 wards the customs of their native 

 soil; but the Brazilian Kings of 

 Congo worship Our Lady of the 

 Rosary, and are dressed in the 

 dress of white men ; they and their 

 subjects dance, it is true, after the 

 manner of their country ; but to 

 these festivals are admitted African 

 negroes of other nations, Creole 

 blacks, and mvdattos, all of whom 

 dance after the same manner ; and 

 these dances are now as much the 

 national dances of Brazil as they 

 are of Africa. The Portuguese 

 language is spoken by all the 

 slaves, and their own dialects are 

 allowed to lie dormant until they 

 are by many of them quite for- 

 gotten. No compulsion is resorted 

 to to make them embrace the 

 habits of their masters, but their 

 ideas are insensibly led to imitate 

 and adopt them. The masters at 

 the same time imbibe some of the 

 customs of their slaves, and thus 

 the superior and his dependant are 

 brought nearer to each other. I 

 doubt not that the system of bap- 

 tising the newly-imported negroes 

 proceeded rather from the bigotry 

 of the Portuguese in former times 



than from any political plan ; but 

 it has had the most beneficial ef- 

 fects. The slaves are rendered 

 more tractable ; besides being bet- 

 ter men and women, they become 

 more obedient servants ; they are 

 brought under the control of the 

 priesthood ; and even if this was 

 the only additional hold which was 

 gained by their entrance into the 

 church, it is a great engine of 

 power which is thus brought into 

 action. 



But in no circumstance has the 

 introduction of the Christian reli- 

 gion among the slaves been of 

 more service than in the change 

 which it has wrought in the men 

 regarding the treatment of their 

 women, and in the conduct of the 

 females themselves. A writer of 

 great reputation on West Indian 

 affairs, states that the introduction 

 of the marriage ceremony among 

 the slaves of the colonies of which 

 he treats "would be utterly im- 

 practicable to any good purpose;" 

 and again, that he who conceives 

 that a remedy may be found for 

 polygamy " by introducing among 

 them the laws of marriage, as es- 

 tablished in Europe, is utterly ig- 

 norant of their manners, propen- 

 sities, and superstitions." Is it 

 not that by the masters these things 

 are considered to be of little im- 

 portance, and therefore unworthy 

 of much trouble ? As long as the 

 work is done, little else is thought 

 of. Where the interest of the 

 master is concerned, the "man- 

 ners, propensities, and supersti- 

 tions," will soon be overcome. I 

 hope that at the present day such 

 opinions do not generally exist. 

 All men in the same state of bar- 

 barism treat their women in the 



same manner ; the evil 



lies not 

 with 



